You are an intelligent person – an individual who knows what works best for your own body and mind. But there is so much for all of us to learn. It’s hard to keep up with so many conflicting opinions – especially with experts changing their advice, which we hope is based upon the objective findings of science. There is some disagreement, even among scientists, as to which dietary and exercise programs are best.
I think an excellent example of a popular diet with considerable controversy is intermittent fasting. While some swear by it, others completely reject it.
Intermittent fasting is generally the practice of avoiding any foods or beverages with calories during a specific time frame. There are countless variations, which may involve abstaining from food during certain hours or days of the week. Also, sometimes particular types of food are avoided or eaten.
This type of diet is not for everyone and should definitely be avoided by children and adolescents, those who are pregnant or breastfeeding, diabetics, those on certain medications, and those who have any history of an eating disorder (1). If any of these sound like you, please try another approach. And anyone considering intermittent fasting should speak with their medical provider before starting.
Perhaps you saw a news story last week about intermittent fasting based on this long term study published in The Journal of the American Heart Association: Association of Eating and Sleeping Intervals With Weight Change Over Time: The Daily24 Cohort (2). This story was featured by most media sources, and the results were put in understandable language for us.
The researchers did not find a link between weight change and the practice of limiting food intake to a specific time window — often referred to as intermittent fasting. Nor did they find an association between weight change and the timing of a person’s first meal after waking up or last meal or snack before bed (3).
Instead, it has been shown that eating smaller meals of about 500 calories or less was more likely to result in weight loss (4). So feel free to choose whatever healthy, low calorie meals work best for you.
There is one other very serious concern with intermittent fasting diets: they may lead to disordered eating (5).
In a recent study of young adults and adolescents in Canada, significant association was found between intermittent fasting and eating disorder psychopathology (6). This was true for men, women, and transgender/gender non-conforming dieters using intermittent fasting, but the closest relationships were between intermittent fasting and women (6).
I hope that regardless of what type of diet plan you choose for weight loss and maintenance that you will seek the advice of a medical professional. There are so many questionable programs out there. Stay healthy – stay safe!
(1). https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/6-ways-to-do-intermittent-fasting
(2). https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.122.026484
(4). https://www.insider.com/intermittent-fasting-vs-smaller-portions-for-weight-loss-study-2023-1?amp
(6). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1471015322000873?dgcid=rss_sd_all
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